GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA —Canadian Omar Khadr is a dangerous murderer who has “marinated in radical jihadism” and whose notoriety has made him the “rock star of Gitmo.”

In the ultimate hearing to decide Khadr’s fate, the prosecution’s psychiatrist said he believes the 24-year-old blames others for his problems and remains “highly dangerous.”

Michael Welner’s testimony followed the release of the 50-paragraph agreed statement of facts in the case, including revelations “Khadr threw the grenade with the specific intent of killing or injuring as many Americans as he could,” in the firefight that left Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer fatally wounded.

Reading into the record, U.S. prosecutor Jeff Groharing also said Khadr underwent “main basic” training when he was 15 and in July 2002 joined an “explosives cell” of terrorists.

Welner, a well-known forensic psychiatrist, opened the first day of Khadr’s sentencing hearing Tuesday with two hours of animated testimony about the risk Khadr poses when released.

Part of Khadr’s notoriety here is due to the fact that the Canadian met Osama bin Laden as a youngster and killed a U.S. soldier, according to Welner.

In some of his colourful responses to prosecutor Air Force Capt. Chris Eason’s questioning, Welner said Khadr has “attracted more attention to Cuba than Fidel Castro.”

He also talked of Woody Allen and “fungating tumours” in metaphors describing the potential for Khadr’s rehabilitation and reintegration into Western society. Canadian rehabilitation programs were merely “cosmetic shrouds,” he said.

“He murdered,” he said. “He has been part of Al Qaeda . . . and we’re still at war.”

“He’s highly dangerous. It is his belief that he should not have been here for a day . . . and that it is everybody else’s fault that he is.”

Khadr has pleaded guilty to five war crimes including murder for throwing a grenade that fatally wounded Speer.

News of his conviction Monday — the first modern-day prosecution of a child soldier and only captive to be held responsible for a battlefield killing of a U.S. service member in Iraq or Afghanistan — was widely denounced by civil rights groups and various newspaper editorials.

But after five years of setbacks since Khadr was first charged with war crimes in the fall of 2005, Tuesday’s hearing belonged to the Pentagon prosecutors.

In the front row sat Speer’s widow, Tabitha, clutching hands with her sister and a U.S. Special Forces officer. Behind her was retired Utah soldier Layne Morris who lost sight in one eye following the July 2002 battle where Khadr was shot and captured after the four-hour firefight.

Both are expected to testify for the prosecution, perhaps as early as Wednesday.

Jurors will have to balance Speer’s and Morris’s testimony about how Khadr’s crimes impacted their lives — and Welner’s assessment — against the testimony later this week from the defence team’s psychiatrist and psychologist, who have spent more than 200 hours assessing Khadr.

The seven military jurors flown to this base to decide the Toronto-born detainee’s fate sat largely impassive as Welner gave his assessment.

They did not know until Tuesday morning that Khadr had pleaded guilty — although one juror admitted to seeing a brief mention on the Internet that Khadr may have reached a plea deal.

Tuesday began with the release of the “stipulations of fact” in the case. The new revelations in nine-page document included:

• Khadr gave U.S. interrogators the location of improvised explosive devices he planted in Afghanistan. Those IEDs were later safely removed.

• Khadr watched U.S. convoys near the airport in Khost, Afghanistan, to gather intelligence about how best to target them.

• When detained at the U.S. airbase in Bagram after his capture, Khadr said he would recall his killing of Speer when he would get “pissed off” with the guards. He was “happy” to have killed a U.S. soldier.

• Khadr had “extensive firsthand knowledge” that his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, provided “funds in support of Al Qaeda operations.” Pakistani forces killed his father in October 2003.

Khadr’s family loomed large in the document and Welner’s testimony. Although Welner has not met Khadr’s two sisters, three brothers and mother in Toronto, he quoted extensively from media reports and a CBC documentary about the family. He said Khadr remained close with them and said he believed the Khadr had become the celebrated “white sheep” of the much-despised family.

Welner was granted access to Khadr over two days this summer — something that Welner said “annoyed Khadr.”

“He was very resentful having to be confronted on his actions,” he said.

The jury is unaware that Khadr has made a plea deal that sentenced him to eight years and an agreement that after a year here the Pentagon will support his application to serve the rest of his sentence to Canada.

Canada has reportedly vowed to accept the transfer application, but six-pages of diplomatic notes between Washington and Ottawa have not yet been released.

That deal will stand unless a military jury returns a punishment of less than eight years and then Khadr gets the benefit of the lighter sentence.

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